China to impose additional 34% tariff on US goods from April 10

China to impose additional 34% tariff on US goods from April 10

China on April 4 announced extra 34% tariff on all US goods from April 10, after Washington imposed steep new levies on Chinese products.

Chinese authorities said they will start a probe into medical CT X-ray tubes imported from the US and India, and halt imports of poultry products from two American companies.

Separately, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it was adding 11 American companies to its list of “unreliable entities,” , which bars them from doing business in China or with Chinese companies. And the ministry imposed stringent limits on exports of certain rare earth elements, including gadolinium and yttrium, which are mined almost exclusively in China and are used in everything from electric cars to smart bombs.

US President Donald Trump had earlier this week announced 54% tariffs on China, which include previous duties already in place. That makes China one of the hardest-hit countries on America's tariff list.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have worsened since Trump returned to the White House in January. Notably, the US president has yet to speak with his Chinese counterpart more than two months after his inauguration. They are also locked in a stalemate over China’s alleged role in the flow of fentanyl into America, which Trump cited as a reason for the previous two rounds of tariffs.

Investment bank JP Morgan said it now sees a 60% chance of the global economy entering recession by year end, up from 40% previously.

Futures for the US S&P 500 fell 2.2% after the cash index plunged 4.8% on Thursday - the biggest one-day fall since the COVID-19 crisis in 2020.

Nasdaq futures were down 2.5% after the index dropped 5.4% on Thursday. Dow Jones futures were trading a whopping 1,000 points lower. The VIX index, a closely watched measure of expected volatility in US stocks, climbed to the highest since August at 33.